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Chloe & Melissa are two of the out-of-town members of the Canadian Cowgirls rodeo drill team.

The Canadian Cowgirls are a professional, not for profit team that travels all over North America as ambassadors promoting our love of our country, flag and the horse.

We are flattered to be often compared to the RCMP Musical ride, with a few small differences; one of which is that we do not receive government funding.

This team is not our full time job – it’s our hobby and our passion. We use our weekends and our vacation time to travel and rely on sponsorships and fundraising to afford to take our show on the road and share our passion with others.

Being a part of this amazing team has given us the opportunity to live out a big dream… between now and June we will be fundraising to get ourselves and our horses Sysco & Jessie to the dream rodeo… The Calgary Stampede 2017!!

To assist with this exciting (and huge) trip, we will be selling beautiful red maple leaves for $10 each. Each leaf sponsored goes directly to our personal fundraising goals to help us get all the way to Calgary.

On October 1, 2016 the Ontario Competitive Trail Riding Association (OCTRA) hosted their provincial Ride n Tie championship race in the Dufferin Forest just north of Orangeville.

This year’s race covered a 20km (12 mile) course through the trails of the Dufferin Forest. 5 teams set out to tackle the challenging trail with the top 3 team finishing fairly close to one another. Ashley Tomaszewski and her brother Alex riding Splash won the race with a time of 2:08:00. Coming in a close second with a time of 2:18:00 was Susan Winmill and Caitie Ciampaglia with Traverston Batique. Third place went to Alana McDougall, Jessica Davis and Distinctly Western finishing with a time of (more…)

Taking a good selfie is hard. It’s even harder when you’re trying to include your 1000 pound partner with a mind of their own! Here are some tips and tricks to master that perfect picture to post on social media.

Lighting

There’s a reason some of the best selfies are taken in the car – natural, unfiltered light, no backlighting (can make you look washed out if not done quite right), main light source coming from front. “Walls” of the car shadow either side of face adding depth to the lighting. Because it is nearly impossible to fit a horse in a car, you can get a similar effect in a door entrance or barn aisle. (more…)

Coaching was the topic of discussion at the Ontario Equestrian Federation member appreciation night at the 2016 Royal Agricultural Winter Fair. Bill Windsor was presented with the 2016 OEF Coach of the Year award by Ian Millar and OEF President Mark Nelson and Ian discuss the importance of good coaching in the equine industry. Check out the following videos: (more…)

My name is Chloe Duffy, I am 15 years old and have been riding since I was 3/4 years old. My Grandpa Bert bought me my first pony and I was hooked!

This 2016 year has been amazing! I have had lots of learning opportunities with a great little off-the-track thoroughbred Carless Cousin. We call him Eddie and he is the cutest little 4 year old dark bay gelding who has such a great heart for humans and sport. Our family adopted him from LongRun Retirement Thoroughbred Society on December 31, 2015. I say we adopted him but he actually adopted us! (more…)

On Saturday November 19, the University of Guelph and Bachelor of Bio-Resource Management – Equine students hosted the inaugural Equine Industry Symposium. Delegates from many different facets of the equine industry were invited to participate in a panel and roundtable discussions to bring to light issues within the equine industry, such as education and training, employment, bringing new people into the industry, and attracting youth, and how to potentially solve these.

The university will be publishing a summary of the proceedings and decisions flowing from the Symposium in the following weeks.

The day culminated with an open to the public talk with Canadian Olympian Ian Millar, who discussed his views on the state of the Canadian equine industry, as well as stories and lessons learned. You can listen below to hear the full discussion with Ian Millar and former CEO of Equine Canada, Akaash Maharaj.

The Ancaster Saddle Club is a non profit club that organizes English and Western Schooling Shows and promotes horsemanship in the community in a safe and professional manner. Five shows take place one Sunday a month beginning in May and ending in September (weather permitting). The Ancaster Saddle Club offers English Hunter classes and Western Performance and Games Classes. All shows are held at the Ancaster Fair Grounds, located at the corner of Trinity Rd and Hwy 2, Ancaster.

The Ancaster Saddle Club recently held their year end banquet to recognize the riders, coaches, parents and volunteers who have competed and helped out at the club throughout the season. Here are the 2016 award winners:

Skip the crowds and do your Black Friday and holiday shopping online and support local athletes at the same time! In August 2017, the Eat Sleep Ride Repeat team will be competing in the 250 mile (400km) Shore to Shore race with their horses. The race is run over 5 days starting at the shore of Lake Huron and ending at the shore of Lake Michigan. We are fundraising to help offset the costs for preparing and participating in the race.

You do not have to do anything extra and it will not cost you anything more than what you spend. Every time you shop online using this link: https://www.flipgive.com/f/167720, Flipgive will give them a percentage of your purchase to go towards their goal. The link will give you access to big name retailers such as Indigo, Apple, Lowes, Under Armour, Bass Pro, Hudson’s Bay, Groupon, and many more.

Please feel free to share this with family and friends and they thank you in advance for your support.

Eat Sleep Ride Repeat is a team of endurance riders from Ontario that blog about their adventures with horses, both at home and abroad. Check out their website https://eatsleepriderepeat.com/ for more information.

Kent Farrington

Kent Farrington won the ever popular Big Ben Challenge at the 2016 Royal Agricultural Winter Fair. Kent was part of the silver medal winning team for the USA at the 2016 Rio Olympics and has represented the United States at multiple World Equestrian Games and Pan-American Games. He is currently ranked 4th in the world standings and is the highest ranked American. http://kentfarrington.com/show-jumping-home/

Nick Skelton

Hot on his heels was Olympic gold medalist Nick Skelton. In 2016, at the age of 58, Skelton won the Individual Olympic gold medal at his seventh Olympic Games riding for team Great Britain. http://www.nickskelton.com/